[agentics] Issue Triage Assistant failed

[github-actions]

Workflow Failure

Workflow: Issue Triage Assistant
Branch: main
Run URL: https://github.com/frankbria/ralph-claude-code/actions/runs/22243204259

⚠️ Secret Verification Failed: The workflow's secret validation step failed. Please check that the required secrets are configured in your repository settings.

For more information on configuring tokens, see: https://github.github.com/gh-aw/reference/engines/

Action Required

Option 1: Assign this issue to agent using agentic-workflows

Assign this issue to the agentic-workflows agent to automatically debug and fix the workflow failure.

Option 2: Manually invoke the agent

Debug this workflow failure using the agentic-workflows agent:

/agent agentic-workflows debug the agentic workflow triage-incoming-issues failure in https://github.com/frankbria/ralph-claude-code/actions/runs/22243204259

Generated from Issue Triage Assistant

• expires on Feb 27, 2026, 10:13 PM UTC

[traycerai]

Plan

Observations

The triage-incoming-issues.lock.yml workflow is auto-generated by the gh-aw (GitHub Agentic Workflows) framework and uses GitHub Copilot CLI as its AI engine. The failure occurs at the "Validate COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN secret" step (line 343–347), which explicitly checks for the COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN secret before proceeding. This secret is absent from the repository's Actions secrets, causing the entire workflow to abort.

Approach

The root cause is a missing repository secret. The fix requires adding the COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN secret (and optionally the GitHub MCP Server token) to the repository settings — no code changes are needed.

---

Implementation Steps

1. Obtain a COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN

The workflow at file:.github/workflows/triage-incoming-issues.lock.yml (line 345) references the engine documentation at https://github.github.com/gh-aw/reference/engines/#github-copilot-default. You need a GitHub token that has GitHub Copilot access. This is typically a GitHub personal access token (classic) or a fine-grained PAT belonging to a user or bot account that has an active GitHub Copilot subscription.

The token must have at minimum:

• repo scope (to read issues and post comments)
• Access to GitHub Copilot (the account must have a Copilot seat)

2. Add COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN to Repository Secrets

Navigate to Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions → New repository secret in the frankbria/ralph-claude-code repository and add:

Secret Name	Value
COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN	The PAT/OAuth token obtained in Step 1

3. (Optional but Recommended) Add GitHub MCP Server Token

The workflow also references GH_AW_GITHUB_MCP_SERVER_TOKEN and GH_AW_GITHUB_TOKEN (lines 356–357 of file:.github/workflows/triage-incoming-issues.lock.yml) for the GitHub MCP Server, which enables the agent to perform GitHub API operations (read issues, post comments, add labels). Without this, the agent falls back to GITHUB_TOKEN (the built-in Actions token), which may have limited write permissions for issue operations.

Add one of the following secrets (in order of preference):

Secret Name	Purpose
GH_AW_GITHUB_MCP_SERVER_TOKEN	Dedicated token for GitHub MCP Server operations
GH_AW_GITHUB_TOKEN	Fallback token for GitHub MCP Server

A fine-grained PAT scoped to frankbria/ralph-claude-code with Issues: Read & Write and Metadata: Read permissions is sufficient.

4. Re-run the Failed Workflow

After adding the secrets, re-trigger the workflow either by:

• Opening a new issue (which triggers the issues: opened event), or
• Manually dispatching via Actions → Issue Triage Assistant → Run workflow

5. Verify the Workflow Succeeds

Confirm that the "Validate COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN secret" step passes and the subsequent agent job proceeds through Copilot CLI installation, MCP server setup, and safe-outputs execution.

---

sequenceDiagram
    participant Repo as Repository Settings
    participant GH as GitHub Actions
    participant Workflow as triage-incoming-issues.lock.yml
    participant Copilot as GitHub Copilot CLI

    Repo->>GH: Add COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN secret
    GH->>Workflow: Issue opened / workflow_dispatch
    Workflow->>Workflow: activation job (prompt build)
    Workflow->>Workflow: validate-secret step
    Note over Workflow: COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN now present ✅
    Workflow->>Copilot: Install & authenticate Copilot CLI
    Copilot->>Workflow: Execute triage prompt
    Workflow->>GH: Post comment / add labels / assign issue

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Import In IDE

🤖 Prompt for AI Agents

## Observations

The `triage-incoming-issues.lock.yml` workflow is auto-generated by the `gh-aw` (GitHub Agentic Workflows) framework and uses **GitHub Copilot CLI** as its AI engine. The failure occurs at the **"Validate COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN secret"** step (line 343–347), which explicitly checks for the `COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN` secret before proceeding. This secret is absent from the repository's Actions secrets, causing the entire workflow to abort.

## Approach

The root cause is a missing repository secret. The fix requires adding the `COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN` secret (and optionally the GitHub MCP Server token) to the repository settings — no code changes are needed.

---

## Implementation Steps

### 1. Obtain a `COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN`

The workflow at `file:.github/workflows/triage-incoming-issues.lock.yml` (line 345) references the engine documentation at `https://github.github.com/gh-aw/reference/engines/#github-copilot-default`. You need a GitHub token that has **GitHub Copilot access**. This is typically a **GitHub personal access token (classic)** or a **fine-grained PAT** belonging to a user or bot account that has an active GitHub Copilot subscription.

The token must have at minimum:
- `repo` scope (to read issues and post comments)
- Access to GitHub Copilot (the account must have a Copilot seat)

### 2. Add `COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN` to Repository Secrets

Navigate to **Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions → New repository secret** in the `frankbria/ralph-claude-code` repository and add:

| Secret Name | Value |
|---|---|
| `COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN` | The PAT/OAuth token obtained in Step 1 |

### 3. (Optional but Recommended) Add GitHub MCP Server Token

The workflow also references `GH_AW_GITHUB_MCP_SERVER_TOKEN` and `GH_AW_GITHUB_TOKEN` (lines 356–357 of `file:.github/workflows/triage-incoming-issues.lock.yml`) for the GitHub MCP Server, which enables the agent to perform GitHub API operations (read issues, post comments, add labels). Without this, the agent falls back to `GITHUB_TOKEN` (the built-in Actions token), which may have limited write permissions for issue operations.

Add one of the following secrets (in order of preference):

| Secret Name | Purpose |
|---|---|
| `GH_AW_GITHUB_MCP_SERVER_TOKEN` | Dedicated token for GitHub MCP Server operations |
| `GH_AW_GITHUB_TOKEN` | Fallback token for GitHub MCP Server |

A fine-grained PAT scoped to `frankbria/ralph-claude-code` with **Issues: Read & Write** and **Metadata: Read** permissions is sufficient.

### 4. Re-run the Failed Workflow

After adding the secrets, re-trigger the workflow either by:
- Opening a new issue (which triggers the `issues: opened` event), or
- Manually dispatching via **Actions → Issue Triage Assistant → Run workflow**

### 5. Verify the Workflow Succeeds

Confirm that the **"Validate COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN secret"** step passes and the subsequent `agent` job proceeds through Copilot CLI installation, MCP server setup, and safe-outputs execution.

---

```mermaid
sequenceDiagram
    participant Repo as Repository Settings
    participant GH as GitHub Actions
    participant Workflow as triage-incoming-issues.lock.yml
    participant Copilot as GitHub Copilot CLI

    Repo->>GH: Add COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN secret
    GH->>Workflow: Issue opened / workflow_dispatch
    Workflow->>Workflow: activation job (prompt build)
    Workflow->>Workflow: validate-secret step
    Note over Workflow: COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN now present ✅
    Workflow->>Copilot: Install & authenticate Copilot CLI
    Copilot->>Workflow: Execute triage prompt
    Workflow->>GH: Post comment / add labels / assign issue
```

---

Execution Information

Branch: main
Commit: 6b1b6d8

---

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[frankbria]

This was caused by a missing COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN secret. Now configured and the workflow runs successfully.